Annealing

I just saw this , not sure how I missed it . Yes I agree , NO way I could do that 10k times in a row . I likely can't do it a few hundred times in a row . In fact every time I anneal I have to start from scratch and get the flame size and time in the flame dialed in .
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I do volume production, so 10,000 is just an order or two,
While you might not anneal 10,000 in 10 years!


I'm not trying to sell mass/volume machines, not my deal...
I'm trying to give insights into how things are *SUPPOSED* to work, the scientific mechanics of the process,
And, if someone is so inclined, tips on how to build automation for themselves to keep costs down, and give them one more thing to tinker with that's reloading related.

We all know there are two kinds of reloaders,
The ones that want to reduce the cost per round so they can shoot longer on the same money,
And the kind that do this to tinker, experiment, learn all angles and areas, shooting is just validation of their work.

You can always hire out or buy precision ammo, pure shooters don't have to reload at all,
While the tinker bunch WANT to know every aspect and learn something new all the time.

I'd say you fall squarely into the 'Tinker' category...
This crap is seriously frustrating sometimes, but the sense of satisfaction when you master a new skill is great!
 
You can always hire out or buy precision ammo, pure shooters don't have to reload at all,
While the tinker bunch WANT to know every aspect and learn something new all the time.

I'd say you fall squarely into the 'Tinker' category...
This crap is seriously frustrating sometimes, but the sense of satisfaction when you master a new skill is great!
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Not sure then what category I fall into? I get personal satisfaction from doing things myself, but my main objective is shooting the smallest groups possible at 1,000 yards and closer with ammo I made. I do love reloading and the science of it all.

I began annealing because 1: I noticed that after 5 loads or so, my velocity spreads began to increase despite the same lots of powder, primers, bullets etc. I didn't know what to attribute it to before, but after becoming an annealer, I now know why. Also, most of my bolt action rifle brass has historically been discarded when necks began splitting... Annealing has increased longevity.

And finally, I used to worry about making sure I kept very accurate track of how many times brass had been fired, i.e. if I have some 5.56 lake city 15, I had to ensure each group had been fired exactly the same number of times such that the necks were as consistently work hardened as possible. But once I began annealing them, as long as they were all just annealed, it doesn't matter if some are twice fired and some thrice fired etc.

But creating the "ultimate annealing machine" isn't something in and of itself I worry about. Only that I am doing well enough to I achieved what I stated above. I enjoy tinkering with my loads, more so than I enjoy tinkering with loading equipment.
 
Although I do also load to save money or shoot more how ever one wants to look at it . As well as to craft specific loads that shoot best in my rifle which goes really to saving money . Your definition of tinker would also be accurate . I how ever don't use the term tinker in that way . I would use the term in like saying someone is not all that serious about what they're doing , "they just tinker" . I take reloading pretty serious and take great pride in the work and is why I tinker ( your definition )
 
You sure have the loads nailed down!
My point is,
With automation/timing control, it's much like shooting brand new brass nearly every time, even after 50 or more loadings.
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nothing fancy, new Lapua .308 large primer cases, regular CCI 200's not the benchrest type. I did a full resize on the cases with a body die, then then neck sized using a inexpensive collet die. Seated regular large CCI with a old hand priming tool then threw the powder with a RCBS Charge master. Seating was on a Lee single stage which I bought off EBay or so and replaced the bushings in.

The fanciest fanciest part of the gear was a micrometer seater which next to the Chargemaster is one of my favorite tools fro cranking out 50 or 100 rounds. No fancy voodoo or magic.

Point is being simple tried and true works. I am huge fan of the KISS method and if it works don't mess with it. The more complicated a piece of equipment is the more things that can potentially go wrong

I love that Chargemaster but if it breaks I still have dippers and tricklers as a backup and a balance beam scale to weigh them in. I bet my loads would just as accurate as the Chargemaster. Just a helluva lot slower.

Anyway I am going to have fun watching these cases through a number of firings. I will collect chrony data and group sizes with every firing. nothing super scientific , but something I can base my practices on other than seat of the pants and hearsay. By the 5th firing I should have my auto system built, that should be a good test of how far the numbers have fallen and if my auto system can return them to factory performance.

My hand annealing SD/ES numbers are higher than these so this gives me a good benchmark on how much the auto system improves, if any my results and whether my older cases are "ruined" for anything but fowlers and sighter use. Who knows I might end up being one of those guys who anneals after every firing.
 
I LOVE to tinker!
Build things, almost anything, but especially the stuff that hasn't been done or done really successfully yet, like home production annealing machines.

There have been large volume machines since the industral revolution started, but a successful home production machine pretty much consists of a Girard feeder and an 'Annie' and not much else...
Everything else is one at a time, manual load, or more or less a 'Rube Goldburg' gadget or a 'Bevis & Butthead' mistake waiting to happen.

I pretty much have some guidelines,
If it's gas, it MUST have a regulator or the gas pressure is going to screw you on any kind of volume annealing, you just can't spend the entire day double checking your work,
It's just a given the pressure IS going to change no matter what, PERIOD.
A larger tank helps, but it's not going to solve the problem like a regulator will.

For electromagnetic induction, starting with an over powered unit and DE-tuning gets more consistent results than starting with a smaller unit and wringing every last watt out of it.
It's REAL easy to DE-Tune by shaping or extra gap in a ferrite than trying to make a new coil and tuning the machine for the new load.

Ferrites are cheap, you can destroy several for a $20 bill, but that also means you can have a ferrite shaped for each & every caliber, or even brass manufacturer to get things just right.

I won't anneal dirty brass.
As discussed, it's not good for the brass, and it screws with annealing time.

No one should ever anneal for 'Color'!
That's one of the old wives tales/dogma that has screwed so many people up.
You shouldn't anneal for 'Glow Color' and trying to anneal to make a case look a certain way is an absolute mistake.

Undercooked is MUCH better than overcooked!
Undercooked you have a chance at recovery, there is no coming back from overcooked!
I used to go great guns, now I sneak up on my annealing, a lot less scrapped brass that way!

Never throw out your culled brass!
Your annealing set up & timing testing doesn't care if the brass has an oversize primer pocket, dent or even cracked neck!
The temp indicator paint works just as well on a cracked neck during setup as it does on a brand new case, when you are done, it fits right back in the scrap bucket just like it did before.
 
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